[Shanghai] DomotexAsia/ChinaFloor, established 15 years ago as an exhibition to highlight Chinese wood and laminate flooring, has become the world’s largest luxury vinyl tile (LVT) convention with more than 100 vinyl floor exhibitors.

“The U.S. is a very big market for us; the absolute biggest and it continues to grow,” said Betty Shen, sales manager for Taiwan-based Winton Tile. “Asian suppliers have a strong position because of our advantage in labor. The Europeans are strong competitors because of their high level of automation, but we have a lot of human and technical resources.”

As examples of their significant role in the U.S. supply chain, leading Asian OEM suppliers said they are responsible for much of the floating and groutable LVT making its way into the U.S. market.

“Asians don’t get the credit for being innovative, but it was Chinese factories that made high-gloss laminate possible. Now we are making all of the most popular LVT. If you saw all of the LVT in Las Vegas during Surfaces — only a small handful of those exhibitors have factories in the U.S. China and Korea are making the rest,” said Walter Chan, export manager of Guangshan, China-based Huizhou Plastics.

Leading Chinese laminate floor suppliers are also converting or adding production lines for LVT. They said the U.S. LVT market offers great opportunity and margins.

“Most countries have not seen the advantages of LVT as readily as the U.S. has,” said Thomas Baert, president and CEO of Shanghai-based ChinaFloor, which added LVT to its laminate and wood offering in 2011. “Americans truly understand that LVT can go into more places than laminate, wet places. It’s a thinner profile so it easily fits under doors and cabinets. And for landlords that don’t want to replace the carpet every time they get a new tenant, they realize they can pay a little extra, put down LVT, and maintain it for more generations of tenants. LVT is bigger than we ever thought it would be. We had to double our capacity two weeks ago.”

Power Dekor and Nature Flooring, two of China’s largest laminate, wood and bamboo flooring manufacture, also expressed an interest in entering the LVT category during DomotexAsia/ChinaFloors.

“Two to three years ago these halls were filled with wood and laminate and now everything is LVT,” said Alloc general manager Bengt Rasin at this year’s show. “Companies that used to make laminate floors have exited the market only to return as LVT suppliers.”

Quality, sustainability drive LVT
Despite the large volume of LVT being exported to the U.S., Asian suppliers said they don’t want to compete on price and commoditize the category.

“The real competition hasn’t started yet and nobody wants it to start. If we lower prices no one wins,” said Sid Lee, general manager of Shanghai-based Jinka. “We focus on being a good quality OEM manufacturer for brand names. We want to maintain a low profile.”

Chinese suppliers in all categories said they are now emphasizing products that are sustainable, innovative and of the highest quality.

“We’re now utilizing PVC without toxins or heavy metals. You don’t see the difference but you’ll feel the difference in the material when you touch it. That’s why we’re not openly displaying it here at the show. But we are showing it to our partners in the U.S. and Europe because this is what they’re looking for,” said Winton Tile’s Shen.

Americans who have been coming to Asia to source product for decades substantiate this move to better quality.

“I go to the same factory year after year and each time I go there’s more automation,” said Jonathan Train, vice president of corporate development, Swiff-Train. “Everything is improving over here. The better suppliers understand what its takes to compete globally and for the long run.”